混合酸消解变化对土壤和沉积物中痕量硒分析影响

基于各3种采集环境样本、国家标准物质的土壤和沉积物,以当前环境监测行业常用的3种消解方法,探讨20种混合酸系统条件在消解条件变化中对复杂样本硒元素测定的影响。确定了最佳土壤和沉积物消解的组合为王水系统(盐酸∶硝酸∶氢氟酸∶过氧化氢∶高氯酸=3∶1∶1∶1∶1),各消解法的处理结果部分(n=5)∶水浴法消解时间仅需0.5h,总处理时间2h,准确度回收率达101%~104%,精密度RSD为1.95%~2.20%;电热板法总处理时间较长(7.5h),回收率106%,RSD偏高为8.46%,不推荐使用;微波法处理的总时间亦长达7.0h,回收率93.8%,但精密度亦偏高为8.24%,因此采用水浴法应用于环境样本的测定。该优化消解方法已直接应用于环境中农业、建筑用土和管道淤泥沉积物的3种样品类型前处理,利用同一优化条件即可快速对应土壤和沉积物性质样品,单次可批量处理72~84个样本,解决高通量样品痕量硒测定需求,提供环境污染监测和检测行业一参考依据。     

ICP-OES同时测定土壤中多种重金属可给态的研究

研究了以HNO3-HCl为提取剂、电感耦合等离子发射光谱法（ICP-OES）同时测定土壤中重金属As、Pb、Cr、Cu、Zn、Cd、Ni共7种元素的可给态的方法。实验结果表明,土壤中重金属可给态经HNO3-HCl提取后完全分解,采用内标法可以提高测定的准确度和精密度,该方法加标回收率为90.9%～106.3%,精密度〈3%,具有较好的准确度和精密度,是一种快速、高效的分析方法。     

氢化物发生原子荧光法测定钻井废水中的铅

目前测定铅的分析方法主要有分光光度法、阳极溶出伏安法、示波极谱法、原子吸收法等。针对比色法灵敏度低,试剂不稳定;电化学法干扰严重;而原子吸收法,线性范围窄,样品用量大等问题,江苏油田采用氢化物发生原子荧光法测定钻井废水中的铅。样品经HNO3-HClO4消解,3％～4％KBH4还原,以0.8％～1.5％的HCl为介质,加入10％K3Fe(CN)6和2％H2C2O4基体改进剂,用原子荧光法连续测定钻井废水中的铅。铅的检测限为0.61ng/mL,回收率为87.4％～146％,变异系数＜4.2％。该方法操作简单,灵敏度高。     

石墨炉原子吸收法测定土壤金属元素的质量控制

为使石墨炉原子吸收法测金属元素准确可靠，对各测定程序和环节采取了消除干扰、测平行双样、测加标回收率、对照分析等措施。测定数据经统计分析，加标回收率在87．3％～115．2％范围内，平行双样相对偏差在12．3％以下，标准土样重复测定变异系数除镉（Cd）外均在5．9％以下，达到了分析测定的要求。     

X射线荧光光谱法测定土壤中微量元素铌

用粉未压片 X 射线荧光光谱的峰背比法,测定土壤中的微量元素铌,可基本消除基体影响,测定结果可满足一般土壤分析的要求,方法的变异系数为15.9％,检测限为5ppm,方法回收率91.5～108％。     

超声粉碎-TOC/TN仪法直接测定污水处理厂废水中的总氮

污水处理厂废水经超声粉碎后,使用TOC/TN仪直接测定总氮.对仪器条件、进样方式、微波粉碎时间及加标回收率进行了探讨.相对标准偏差＜2.35％,测定结果与国标法一致,相对误差＜±1.3％,回收率为95.3％ ～97.8％.方法简便、快速、准确.     

化学需氧量现场快速检测优化方法研究

基于便携水质测定仪,结合行标法HJ/T399—2007《水质 化学需氧量的测定 快速消解分光光度法》的实验原理,通过调节消解液的酸度和增加消解时间方式,建立化学需氧量（COD）现场快速消解优化法。 实验结果显示此优化法标准曲线相关系数达0.9994以上,标准偏差为1.3％～2.1％,加标回收率95.4％～103.5％,均符合实验要求,在实际废水样品检测中,比行标法（HJ/T 399—2007）准确度更好,与便携分析仪方法检测结果具有一致性,与滴定法HJ 828—2017《水质 化学需氧量的测定 重铬酸盐法》验证也无差异,此优化法具有成本低、操作简单快捷、准确度高的优点,适合于废水大批量的现场快速检测。     

蔬菜中有机磷农药残留量测定方法研究

用气相色谱法测定蔬菜中甲胺磷、甲拌磷、氧化乐果、乐果、甲基对硫磷、毒死蜱和对硫磷的残留量,对每种农药作3种不同浓度（0.05、0.1、0.5 mg.kg-1）添加回收率实验。结果表明,平均回收率在74.3%～115%之间,变异系数在18.6%以内,最小检测浓度在0.017 2～0.102 mg.kg-1。     

电热原子吸收法测定大气中微量元素镉

用HNO_3—HClO_4硝解聚氯乙烯膜,用石墨炉原子吸收法直接测定大气颗粒物中的镉,方法准确度使用标准物质,在选定的条件下,相对误差0.011％,变异系数为10.83％,回收率在90.2～101.6％,方法操作简便测定速度快。     

离子色谱法测定海产品中NO_2~-、NO_3~-和S~(2-)

建立了海产品中NO2^-、NO3^-和S2^-电导和紫外串联检测离子色谱分析法。优化了样品前处理方法,100mmol/L NaOH溶液浸提测定组分,LC-WCX去除干扰,回收率较好。优化了色谱分离和检测条件,25℃分离共存组分,电导和紫外串联检测,有效消除了高浓度Cl-和SO42-的干扰。电导和紫外检测法的线性范围均为0.05-10mg/L,检出限分别为0.75-6.0mg/kg、0.24-5.8mg/kg,回收率分别为88.5%-101.5%、82.8%-107.8%,RSD分别为1.2%-2.7%、1.7%-3.6%。采用建立的分析方法测定了海鱼和虾仁,结果满意。     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.     

Surface applied water treatment residuals affect bioavailable phosphorus losses in Florida sands

Water treatment residuals (WTR) can reduce runoff P loss and surface co-application of P-sources and WTR is a practical way of land applying the residuals. In a rainfall simulation study, we evaluated the effects of surface co-applied P-sources and an Al-WTR on runoff and leacheate bioavailable P (BAP) losses from a Florida sand. Four P-sources, namely poultry manure, Boca Raton biosolids (high water-soluble P), Pompano biosolids (moderate water-soluble P), and triple super phosphate (TSP) were surface applied at 56 and 224kgPha(-1) (by weight) to represent low and high soil P loads typical of P- and N-based amendments rates. The treatments further received surface applied WTR at 0 or 10gWTRkg(-1) soil. BAP loss masses were greater in leachate (16.4-536mg) than in runoff (0.91-46mg), but were reduced in runoff and leachate by surface applied WTR. Masses of total BAP lost in the presence of surface applied WTR were less than approximately 75% of BAP losses in the absence of WTR. Total BAP losses from each of the organic sources applied at N-based rates were not greater than P loss from TSP applied at a P-based rate. The BAP loss at the N-based rate of moderate water-soluble P-source (Pompano biosolids) was not greater than BAP losses at the P-based rates of other organic sources tested. The hazards of excess P from applying organic P-sources at N-based rates are not greater than observed at P-based rates of mineral fertilizer. Results suggest that management of the environmental P hazards associated with N-based rates of organic materials in Florida sands is possible by either applying P-sources with WTR or using a moderate water-soluble P-source.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.